Former Everton and current Belgium boss Roberto Martinez has had his say on Christian Benteke’s performance versus Gibraltar.
Christian Benteke scored a hattrick for Belgium against Gibraltar
Belgium national team manager Roberto Martinez has heaped praise on Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke after the 25-year-old scored a hattrick in his side’s 6-0 drubbing of minnows Gibraltar.
The forward was drafted in as a replacement for the injured Everton man Romelu Lukaku and it did not take him long to make his mark.
Everton’s Romelu Lukaku was out injured for Belgium
Benteke gave Belgium the lead after just eight seconds in the Algarve, making him the fastest ever goal scorer in any competitive international, but it was all facets of his game which impressed Martinez, who was happy to see the striker back to his brilliant best on the international stage.
The 43-year-old former Everton boss was quoted by Sky Sports as saying: “When he was first called up, he was almost rushed. He had a really poor pre-season, he couldn’t settle where he was. He was thinking about the next move.
“Now he is a completely different player. I have seen him strong, I have seen him match fit. I wanted to see him today how he could play in a game where we were going to spend most of the time in their half.”
Roberto Martinez (right) was pleased with Benteke’s all-round display
Martinez continued to say that he thought the performance would be a big positive for Benteke moving forward and that he fully merited such a fine display.
“I was pleased with the manner that he started in the game, pleased with the contribution, but scoring a hat-trick. and contributing the way that he did is going to be really good for him and he deserves that.”
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